The Mighty Titan #5 - The End?

This is it, kids! The final chapter in the story of Joe Martino‘s The Mighty Titan! Will The Mighty Titan perish by cancer or by his arch nemesis Trenchmouth? You;ll have to get issue #5 to find out!. This issue has a cover by Comicbook legend, John Byrne. The Mighty Titan’s story thus far: Imagine, if you will, just for a moment that you were the world’s strongest protector. Imagine that no knife, bullet or bomb can harm you. Then imagine in that moment you are told you have cancer.

The Mighty Titan is a character who — for all intents and purposes — is invulnerable. He cannot be harmed by any means known to man. Unfortunately, his alter ego doesn’t have such luck. Titan’s alter ego is dying of cancer. Okay, now what? Truthfully, this isn’t the perception that we all usually have when not touched by cancer? We are all under the (mistaken) belief that we are invulnerable. Aren’t we all someone’s protector? Aren’t we all everything to someone? Not until that lump, or pain, or (un)lucky fateful scan.

How we deal with this particular defines us as does no other. How we live with this strengthens us. What we lose is innocence and the loss of a clear mind. This is Joe Martino’s epitaph. This is his way of dealing. This is his way of helping others understand what it feels like to be invulnerable...and then, one conversation, one sentence later...never, ever being able to feel that way again.

“I am sorry, Mr. Martino. You have adeno cell carcinoma.” were the last words Martino’s 33 year old innocent, clear-minded self ever heard. From that day forward, he knew that he had cancer. His Life was over. Even though, through the support and resolve of his friends, family and doctors. He somehow survived. Twice.

WRITER/CREATOR: Joe Martino: Joe has been creating comics since he was 10 years old. His big “break” came when he decided to do everything (mostly) on his own and publish Shadowflame back in 1996. Since then, he has been published by Arcana with Shadowflame and Ripperman, Main Enterprises, Coscom Entertainment and a slew of other independent publishers and made some great friends along the way. Joe recently joined forces with Dave Ryan to merge JGM with Red Anvil Comics and create a more dedicated and rounded company. And, of course the awesome team who brought us The Mighty Titan #1-4!

PENCILER: Luca Cicchitti: His pencils are bringing Titan to life in a way we couldn’t have imagined. His pencils on Titan are critically acclaimed. Wait until you see what he is doing with issue 5!

Flashback PENCILER: Cory Smith: Cory Smith is an illustrator and comic artist living and working in New York. Since graduating from the Joe Kubert School in 2004, Cory has worked with clients such as Nickelodeon, Hasbro, Disney, Crayola, and many others on a wide variety of projects and properties. Cory is the artist on Dynamite’s Magnus the Robot Hunter and the Aspen series Legend of the Shadow Clan and BROKEN PIECES. He is also the co-creator of THE INDEPENDENTS with writer Ben Christian.

INKER: Jeff Austin: Jeff is a very well known in the indie comic scene and one of the best inkers out there. He has worked for Image (Big Bang Comics) Main Enterprises (Betsy and more), Arcana (Shadowflame, Ripperman. Dead Men Tell No Tales), Trinity Comics (The Wraith) Faust, FemForce, and many others.

COLORIST: Dash Martin is a freelance comic artist whose diverse tastes are reflected in artwork that is influenced by comics from the early ‘90s and various other film & television genres such as sci-fi & horror. Although his imagination would have him think he started in the womb, Dash started working in comics at the age of 21; first doing color assists for Hi*Fi Colour and other freelance colorists. Absorbing and evolving as much as he could from that experience, he transitioned to coloring work on Savage Dragon #100, Savage Dragon: God War, SuperPatriot: War on Terror and other independent projects including Joe’s Shadowflame #1. He very much enjoys drawing his own creations in his spare time and has the best of intentions to release his own book in the near future. He currently resides in Tallahassee with his wonderful, brilliant wife and their socially unacceptable/criminally fluffy Pomeranian.

Letterer: Adam O. Pruett: Adam letters for Image, Antarctic Press, JGM, Arcana, Markosia, Ronin Studios, 215 Ink, and others. He also writes and draws his own comics when he gets a free second, which is pretty much never. He speaks dinosaur, but not fluently. Come badger him on Twitter at @adamopruett or else.

Issue 5 has an awesome cover by John Byrne! Martino is also producing a variant cover by Rich Buckler that is inked by Rich’s son and Jeff Austin! The other books in the mini-series books have covers by some of Martino’s greatest inspirations and artists that were kind enough to take the time out of their busy schedules, including Jerry Ordway, Jamal Igle, Bryan Hitch, Bob McLeod, and Steve Lightle.

Also involved in one way or another are John Orlando, Robert J. Sodaro (edits), Rob X. Roman, Bryan Magnaye, Jose Verese and Frank M. Cuonzo. Martino has already successfully launched three Kickstarters prior to this so he has streamlined the rewards process. The first 4 issues have been funded on Kickstarter and he hopes issue 5 will do as well or better. He and his team are working on issue 5 now. He’s already invested a good deal of time, blood, sweat, tears, and money into the project and he wants people to see the ending of this epic mini-series.

This project will only be funded if at least$3,750 is pledged by Fri, Jun 27 2014.

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Robert J. Sodaro has been reviewing comicbooks for some 30 years. During that time, his reviews and articles have appeared in numerous print publications, as well as on the web. Subscribe to receive regular comicbook articles and reviews.

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Robert J. (“Bob”) Sodaro is an American born writer, editor, and digital graphic production artist. Sodaro was born in Norwalk, CT and is best known for writing for numerous publications in the comicbook industry press during the ‘80s & ‘90s. He is currently the editor for Red Anvil Comics — an independent comicbook publisher (where he is also writing two on-going comics; Owlgirls and Cyberine Corps). He is also a freelance writer and author of Agent Unknown, Wülf Girlz and other comics for several Indie comicbook companies including Pronto Comics and Main Enterprises. He also writes articles and reviews about comics and collectibles. His book, Kiddie Meal Collectibles was published by Krause Books.